Giri: “Magnus and I are very close in terms of style”

Anish Giri, the world no. 4 and the youngest player in the
2016 Candidates Tournament, is only one point off the lead with six rounds to
go and still has a real chance of qualifying for a World Championship match
against Magnus Carlsen. So far, though, he’s mainly attracted criticism for a
super-solid approach that has led to eight draws in eight games. What does
Anish himself think about his style? He talked about it in a long interview
before the event.

Anish Giri has scored a perfect eight draws so far in Moscow | photo: World Chess

In the interview with Oleg Bogatov for RSport.ru, Giri
talked about his upbringing in Russia, Japan and the Netherlands and many other
topics (for instance, his name apparently means “God of Gods,” or something similar!),
but here we’ve translated the last section of the interview where the focus
switches to chess:

How was your
preparation for the event – more training sessions or tournaments?

Unfortunately I was one of the players who for a long time
didn’t know if I would take part or not. I qualified based on my FIDE rating
over the last year. I was comfortably ahead of Vladimir Kramnik, but there were
still a couple of months before the final count and I didn’t want to start my
preparation before I was officially a participant in the tournament. As the
Russian saying goes, don’t divide up the skin of an unkilled bear.

I tried not to think about it, but there wasn’t so much time
left in the year. It seems to me I attempted to make my preparation intense, but not to such a degree that my brain shut off after it. The computer
plays a huge role in preparation, and then it’s hard to get away from it – to
switch to playing at the board. I tried to do everything in my power, and I’m
happy with how it went. But, unfortunately or fortunately, preparation is only
a small part of the game: the result often depends on many other factors.

Anish, among experts
there’s an opinion that if Giri has decided not to lose a game then it’s almost
impossible to beat him. Is that the case?

Giri's wife Sopiko Guramishvili is interviewed during the first round of the Moscow Candidates

It’s partly true. My style is known for being watertight,
but I don’t focus on that – it’s purely stylistic. It’s not an approach I
choose but a consequence of my chess style. Such positions suit my game. I’ve
had a lot of games which I’ve won by exploiting a minimal advantage, when many
of my colleagues would simply agree to a draw, not thinking about a win. Those
are purely technical positions in which you need to take subtle decisions.

Last year I really did lose very few games. One of them was
in the semi-final of the World Cup in Baku, with White against Svidler, when I
surprised myself by going for a sharp attack. That was a very important stage,
and if I’d beaten Peter I’d have qualified for the final and guaranteed my
participation in the Candidates Tournament. It’s often like that: when you
attack but you’re not sure that it’s sound, there’s some kind of
indecisiveness, and ultimately it all ends badly.

Yes, I had a lot of tournaments where I didn’t lose a single
game, and that often weighs on your opponents: when they have an advantage
they’re afraid to let it slip. On the one hand that’s good, while on the other
– in contrast to my colleagues I’ve had few tournaments where I’ve scored +5 or
+6, as has been the case, for example, with Levon, Hikaru or Fabiano.

That’s the other side of the coin, but the statistics won’t
play a decisive role in the result – it’s more important to be in good form.
It’s like in every sport, for instance, in football – there are teams who let
in few goals, and there are clubs that are focussed on attacking. That doesn’t
determine the result. It’s a matter of style.

Continuing the
football analogy – do you prefer a 1:0 score to 4:3?

Yes, that often occurs in my games (smiles). I can’t say I feel more comfortable, but that happens and
it’s connected to some chess preferences. It’s a question of chess education,
and not my choice.

In Moscow +1 or +2
will get you one of the top places, but in order to win the tournament you may need
to play more aggressive chess. Do you somehow have to adjust?

I don’t think so. After all, +5 starts with +1, so it
wouldn’t be bad to start with a first win. I’m more afraid of turning out to be
in bad form. If I get to +1 then, I think, I’ll pick up another couple of
games. I don’t think my style prevents me from achieving success. It’s another
matter that good form for me and, for example, Levon, will work in his favour.

In recent years I was a step away from victory in many
tournaments: for example, in the Grand Chess Tour. I scored +2 in two
tournaments and +1 in the other and was close to winning the whole series. And
in all those tournaments, despite my style, I let some chances slip. Somewhere
I could have scored +4, somewhere +3, therefore I’m not trying to change myself
and imitate my colleagues, who I don’t consider stronger than me.

You’re considered an
adherent of the Soviet Chess School…

It’s tough to say. I got very lucky that I began to study
chess in Russia. I can’t say that my first coaches were very well-known chess
players. At first that was Asya Kovalyova, then Andrei Praslov – they still
coach now at the Sports School No. 2 in the Kalininsky District of St.
Petersburg. They weren’t particularly well-known, but they knew which books
chess beginners needed to read, and that’s very important. Often western coaches, who are
international masters and grandmasters, are clearly stronger, but sending the
right book by post or giving it to read over the weekend is a very important
quality for a children’s coach.

I have some Soviet chess culture, but recently my style
has changed and now it’s become very technical: I squeeze out wins from
slightly better endgames and I defend very tenaciously in worse positions. But
it seems to me that at my age, 21, my style changes from year to year. And
there’s no guarantee that I’ll always play this way. In the last year, though,
I’ve played very technically, and it all took place in a narrow range: there
were few fireworks in games at the top level.

Giri's current coach is Grandmaster Vladimir Tukmakov, seen here during the first round next to Silvio Danailov, with fellow coaches Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Caruana), Vladimir Potkin (Karjakin) and Grzegorz Gajewski (Anand) also looking on

Of course when I played in the French League I won about six
games. Playing with chess players who are a little weaker is much easier – you
throw down the gauntlet (smiles). But
throwing down the gauntlet to such players as Fabiano Caruana or Sergey
Karjakin isn’t so easy.

There are probably
only two elite chess players in the world who are capable of squeezing blood
out of a stone – the Norwegian World Champion Magnus Carlsen and you.

Yes, at the point where many chess players end the fight and
agree to a draw that’s when I start to enjoy myself. Magnus and I are very
close in terms of style, but in our approach to the game we’re total opposites.
Magnus tries to put the accent only on play, getting away from preparation, but
for me preparation plays an enormous role. And that’s not only because I really
love to prepare while Magnus doesn’t and only wants to play at the board.
For me it’s a huge element of the game, and my love of chess is largely based
on a love of home preparation. But in terms of chess style we really are very similar.

If I’m not mistaken,
you’re the only chess player in the world who hasn’t lost to Carlsen and has a
positive score in games against him, 1:0…

Yes, though we have made 12 draws, and I wouldn’t draw any
particular conclusions. Of course it’s nice and potentially important that I
have a good score against him, because a bad score against Magnus is the end –
you can immediately sign your own death warrant. When an opponent lacks a little
self-confidence Magnus simply destroys him, but when Carlsen feels
uncomfortable against someone he’s not the same at all. And that’s very important.

Do you consider
someone the favourite before the start of the tournament?

Many say that the chances are even, but I don’t think that’s
entirely true. Purely on paper, taking into account the results of tournaments
in recent months, then the favourite, in my view, is Fabiano Caruana. And also
Hikaru Nakamura – in terms of his results.

Caruana was for a long time the only player "keeping pace" with Giri, with seven draws in seven - he spoiled his record by beating Nakamura in Round 8! | photo: World Chess

Fabiano played well in January in the tournament in Wijk aan
Zee and he has experience of crushing such major tournaments. In one of them he
scored seven wins in a row – a fantastic result, and now scoring 7/7 is known
as “doing a Caruana”. That went down in history as a top tournament result for
all time, and can probably be compared to some of Anatoly Karpov’s results in
previous years.

Hikaru, meanwhile, won a huge number of tournaments in the
past year. However, Nakamura has a huge Magnus complex – his score against him
is 0:12, although Magnus isn’t in Moscow, and that shouldn’t play on Hikaru’s
nerves.

Anish, is there any
Russian saying that you really like.

I like Russian sayings in general. And one day before the
start of the tournament I really liked it when all the players went onto Red
Square for a walk and were waiting for Topalov. And one of the organisers then
said: “Seven don’t wait for one”. And it was just amusing that the standard
saying fitted the occasion perfectly. There are a great many Russian sayings,
and they more often than not hit the mark.

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